Free Republic

Conservatives who complain about liberal Hollywood may have a new film to champion: Dune: Part Two. The new science fiction epic is directed by Denis Villeneuve and adapted from the famous book by author Frank Herbert. Herbert was a brilliant thinker who could juggle several complex ideas at one time. Dune has themes of environmentalism, empire, religion, war, prophesy, and political conflict. At its heart, however, Dune, and especially its book sequels, form a massive argument against big government, high taxes, and superhero leaders and political messiahs who promise to save the world. The world and politics of Dune have...

Often cited as the bestselling science fiction novel of all time, Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel Dune features a unique blend of technology and human drama that has stood the test of time. This complex universe, and its even more complex ideas on time, space, and human consciousness, resulted in five follow up novels by Herbert himself, 16 additional books co-authored by his son Brian Herbert and sci-fi veteran author Kevin J Anderson, a 1984 movie, a pair of early 2000s TV miniseries, and more recently the box office crushing 2021 epic film adaptation. Hoping to find the overlap between science...

An investigation into narcotics inside the Halawa prison revealed two deaths and at least 14 overdoses in the past eight months linked to the same designer drugAn investigation into narcotics inside the Halawa prison revealed two deaths and at least 14 overdoses in the past eight months linked to the same designer drug. Spice, also known as synthetic marijuana, hasn’t made too many headlines here lately. But officials at Halawa Correctional Facility say it’s a problem behind bars. Often sold in colorful pouches, spice can resemble marijuana. The psychoactive substance is also sold in a liquid form. Marketed in vials,...

Maybe it’s because of Amazon’s upcoming TV series, but lately we seem to be learning a lot of hitherto unknown facts about The Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien, or at least, some old facts are getting spread around anew. Just recently, author John M. Bowers posited that Tolkien may have written his genre-defining trilogy while procrastinating on his academic work. (Would that all our procrastinations were that fruitful.) Now, the @SecretsOfDune Twitter account has posted a page from Tolkien’s Library: An Annotated Checklist by Oronzo Chili, which seeks to understand this literary titan by perusing his bookshelf. And...

Dune is destined to be another crashing bore, because the actual characters in the story are not very relatable or likable.True story. Years ago, even before dudes wanted a Dell, a gaggle of Army generals gathered to ponder how to integrate computers into military operations. One prefaced his prognosticating by admitting to being a “Trekkie,” having grown up watching the 1960s TV-series. He went on to talk about the future of warfare as though they would all be Captain Kirks firing photon torpedoes from the command deck. Science fiction and the future have a messy relationship. Much science fiction either...

In the history of science fiction literature, few novel series have reached the upper echelon of belovedness quite the way Frank Herbert’s Dune has. The incredibly dense, richly populated space opera is considered by many to be the best science fiction novel ever written, winning all kinds of awards upon its release in 1965. There has to date been a single feature film of the work–David Lynch’s head-scratching, though undeniably visually arresting, 1984 effort–but save a Syfy miniseries in the early-2000s, Dune has remained nigh-unfilmable…until now! Deadline is reporting that Legendary Pictures has reached an agreement with the Herbert estate...

A robot escaped from a testing area in Perm, a city not far from the Urals, and made it on to a busy junction, baffling passersby, but also disturbing traffic. “The robot was learning automatic movement algorithms on the testing ground, these functions will feature in the latest version of the Promobot.” The co-founder of the robot’s maker, Oleg Kivokurtsev, told ura.ru news agency. “Our engineer drove onto the testing ground and forgot to close the gates. So the robot escaped and went on his little adventure.” Kivokurtsev explained.

Folio Society to publish 50th Anniversary copy of 'Dune'

I apologize for the vanity, but I know that FR is a community of avid readers. Last year, I read "The Hobbit", "The Lord of The Rings" and "The Silmarillion". I read that Arthur C Clarke referred to "Dune" as 'The Lord of the Rings' of Science Fiction. What are Freepers opinion of Dune (the book not the movie) and should I continue with the sequels? I saw the film 30 years ago, I remember receiving a sheet with a primmer at the movie theatre after buying a ticket. also, is there a Gothic horror equivalent to "Dune" of "Lord...

It's common knowledge that a lot of people in the world don’t have access to clean drinking water. In some parts of Africa, people, particularly children fall victim to bacteria in the water they drink; a lot of them die. For some, getting to a water source, even one that isn’t clean can mean walking for several miles, and then carrying it back. It’s for these people that industrial design students Ryan Lynch and Marcus Triest have designed and created what they call the Solar Bag, it’s a bag that holds water and hangs off the shoulders and lies on...

I knew this was going to happen, so ... I am reposting this in light of the following story blurb that just appeared on Drudge: From Drudge 10:12 PM 03-10-03 By Bill Gertz: Al Qaeda is seeking recruits in the Middle East for terrorist attacks on oil fields in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in the event of U.S. military action against Iraq, U.S. intelligence officials say... MORE... The al Qaeda recruitment is targeting radical Islamists in Saudi Arabia and Yemen who are willing to conduct suicide attacks and other sabotage against the oil fields outside Iraq, the WASHINGTON TIMES will...

Thoughts have previously occurred to me, regarding similarities the Frank Herbert's "Dune" as relates to the Ozama Bin Laden phenomenon and the rise of Isamofascist fundamentalism, but they involve a specific aspect of the Herbert story, and thereby reflect some of the economic dangers to the West that may just now be appearing. Please forgive the strains this kind of speculation and comparison of actual events with a fictional tale put on credibility, and just bear with me for a moment. Also, please don't take my musings as any kind of endorsement or lionization of Bin Laden as some kind...